Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic defended the honor of Nickelback and grunge bands everywhere on Twitter Thursday.
The musician’s tweet was prompted by a surreal series of events in which President Donald Trump tweeted out a meme about Joe Biden featuring the Nickelback song “Photograph,” and either the band, or their label Warner Bros., filed a copyright complaint to have the clip taken down. The Internet, unsurprisingly, had a field day with the takedown as opinions on Nickelback effectively split down party lines.
USA politics have gone bonkers. It’s all about thumbs-a blazing-on Twitter while policy takes a back seat. $22,000,000,000,000 in debt, yet Fed’s deficit spend and promise even more $$$ to voters. To POTUS and congress showboats: Please leave Grunge bands alone! https://t.co/W6WiPL2Ol6
— Krist Novoselić (@KristNovoselic) October 3, 2019
“USA politics have gone bonkers,” Novoselic tweeted. “It’s all about thumbs-a blazing-on Twitter while policy takes a back seat. $22,000,000,000,000 in debt, yet Fed’s deficit spend and promise even more $$$ to voters. To POTUS and congress showboats: Please leave Grunge bands alone!”
The day before, Novoselic had also responded to a months-old Fox News clip that was making the rounds again — apparently the last time Nickelback was a key talking point in American politics was as recently as March. Back then, in the House of Representatives, Wisconsin Democrat Mark Pocan and Illinois Republican Rodney Davis debated the merits of Nickelback, which led to Fox News talking head Chris Stirewalt comparing the band to socialism on an episode of The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino.
It was a joke, a lame and old joke, but a joke nonetheless. Still, when Novoselic saw the clip, he tweeted, “Who is this jerk? Nickelback is a is power pop rock band & I love them!!!! They are Canadian BTW. The USA can work well because of the uneasy marriage between socialism and capitalism here. There is push and pull — so be weary of those on the fringe advocating one way or another.”
Who is this jerk? Nickelback is a is power pop rock band & I love them!!!! They are Canadian BTW. The USA can work well because of the uneasy marriage between socialism and capitalism here. There is push and pull—so be weary of those on the fringe advocating one way or another. https://t.co/lG1WAMiFyW
— Krist Novoselić (@KristNovoselic) October 3, 2019